


What's a Valentines?

by ToMarsAndBeyond3



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: All of them are small!, Babies all of them, Trans martin also bc im also trans and sad, Vogel is a small baby and he needs a hug, ahhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:28:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22938679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToMarsAndBeyond3/pseuds/ToMarsAndBeyond3
Summary: The first spring free of Blaxkwing sneaks up upon Vogel, who has no idea what a Valentine is. It sounds pretty cool, though.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	What's a Valentines?

**Author's Note:**

> SORRY I POSTED IT LATE

The air was warming, day by day. As winter ended Amanda liked to spend time outside, away from the van and endless hotels. Normally they would travel south for the winter, Martin said, like birds. Recovering from Blackwing had been hard and they had stayed close to Dirk to make sure nothing happened to anyone. The cold days, the snow, it all meant cramming into the van or renting a room somewhere or just staying in Amanda’s house. It was a lot of time spent inside, and Amanda was done with it. It felt like she was hiding again.

Today, it was warm outside. It shouldn’t have been, but she just blamed it on global warming and moved on.

Amanda threw an old bottle at a tree. The glass shattered, breaking off into a million little pieces. She could feel it in her skin, if she stared long enough. The glass digging into her hands. She closed her eyes, shrugged it off. She didn’t need to induce an attack.

Even here, in the dawn, it was warm.

“Amanda!”

Vogel sounded far too awake for it to be so early, the others never woke up before ten. Amanda turned just in time for Vogel to wrap his arms around her, pulling her into a hug.

“Hey! Hey-”

“It’s my favorite day!” Vogel laughed, holding her tightly for a few seconds. She laughed with him and pulled back, only to find herself presented with a flower.

“Um. Thanks.” Amanda frowned, taking it in her hands. It was fake, old. Red paint - yes, it was paint - was dropped on the edges of the faded petals and the stem had been bent and reshapen. “What is this?”

“Love day!”

“Love-” Amanda looked down at her watch. “Valentines day? Why are you giving me a flower for Valentines Day?”

“You’ll see!”

Amanda watched him run off, a warm feeling blossoming in her chest. She held it up to the light and then placed the old flower gently into her pocket. Weird. 

Here in the morning forest everything looked blue, like the first Twilight movie. Amanda… she had liked those books as a kid, but now she was far grown out of them. Her wand lit up in her pocket, the skeletons of leaves rising up like a draft had started and circling around her.

She fucking loved magic.

When she had walked off from the van everyone was asleep, but that was no longer the case. Cross had pulled up branches and grass and was tying them together; Gripps had brought out some alcohol for Martin; Martin was reading a book and Vogel was climbing a tree. It never got easier to watch them be so normal, it felt strange.

“Martin,” AManda hummed, sitting down in front of him. ‘What are you reading?”

“A book.”

“What book?” She grabbed it out of his hands and turned it to the cover. There was a photo of space and large words that read Astrophysics for Physicists. “Oh. What?”

“What? Want a lesson?” Martin raised an eyebrow. 

“No, I’m just- astrophysics?” Amanda’s frown deepened. “Have you even gone to school?”

“Yup.” Martin took the book back and closed it up; the others around them had stopped what they were doing and were now paying attention. “Top student back when.”

Amanda hadn’t really considered what the others had been before Blackwing, but she supposed they must have been something. Maybe not Vogel, but then… maybe. Even toddlers have personalities. She looked down at the flower in her hands. Magic was pumping through it, making the tips glow a soft red.

“Oh! She got the flower!!” Gripps laughed. 

“It’s her turn!”

“Who had it last?”

“Me!”

Amanda turned and looked at the commotion; Martin was just smiling, silent. She turned back to look at him, then down at the flower. 

“Why is this a thing,” she asked. “It’s old.”

“Yeah, so am I.” Martin rolled his eyes. “Long story.”

“We literally only ever have time, dude. Tell me.” She swiped at him and smiled; something tugged at the ends of his lips. The wind picked up and whirled around them, as if the forest had come to life to listen to the story. The trees bent forward and the birds stopped, listening.

“Sure, if Vogel helps me tell it.”

Vogel whooped; the birds did too.

Amanda couldn’t help but love them.

___________________________

Approximately February 14th, 2001

The winter had been spent inside.

Vogel had been hot at first, hiding from the sun in the stolen van. But as they left the dry, barren landscape the world had gotten colder, draped in white. It wasn’t like the sterile white of their uniforms, no, this was beautiful. The stuff was freezing in Vogel’s hands when he picked it up, disappearing until there was only water left to drink. The land had turned into a great white mirror.

Sky fluff, Vogel hadn’t been able to come up with another name for it and he didn’t want to ask his dads. They might laugh.

“Vater,” Vogel whispered, frowning at the ground. The sun was out in full force, warmth on Vogel’s skin. The sky fluff had disappeared overnight. “White’s gone.”

“Mmhm. Almost spring,” the man said, humming at Vogel as he put his hair up. It was long, and all throughout the winter he had talked about cutting it. Now he put it into a hair tie, taking a pair of scissors in his hands.

“Spring?”

“Yeah.”

Vogel didn’t know that word, but he had heard it said a few times. Learning English was… difficult when you were in a bad place with bad people hurting you. He had only known what he needed to. But this winter, he was learning a lot more.

“Spring? What’s that?”

“Flowers grow,” Vater hummed, closing his scissors and watching the heavy brown hair drift to the ground. It stood out against his face, the hair, he was so pale. “The sun comes back, all that. Think it’s Valentines day.”

“Val?”

“‘S what the cashier said, yeah.” A soft smile bloomed on Vater’s face and he glanced back into the open van. “Wanna wake them up?”

“Wake them up?”

“Yeah, go.”

Vogel yelled, hitting the van door with his fist. It roused the others, causing them to stir and mumble. Vogel thought for just a moment he was in trouble, but ended up laughing instead as the others smiled at him.

"Hey!" Cross smiled. He had the kind of long hair that Martin hated, full and curly and framing his face. "Warm out!"

"Shit. Yeah." Gripps sat up, stretching his shoulders and running a hand through his own hair. It was curly too, but the curls were much tighter than Cross'. 

"Valentines day," Martin mumbled.

"Hey!" Cross' eyes widened in delight. "Cut your hair!"

Gripps laughed, pulling Martin backwards and into a hug. They were all smiling and Vogel didn't share the joy, turning and looking back at the wilderness. Little weeds were growing and he picked one from the ground, following the pretty growths away from the van. It led to a little store, presumably the one Martin had been talking about. Vogel gathered the many white weeds he had picked in his hands and walked inside, holding out to the cashier.

"Word?"

"What?"

"Word?"

"It's a flower, dude. Flowers. Well." The cashier tipped her head to the side, pink hair falling into her eyes. "Weeds, but-"

"Flowers?" Vogel frowned and leaned forward on his toes. "Flowers?"

“Flowers.“ The woman got a softer look on her face and pulled down a vibrant, plastic flower. It was red, too red, more colorful than Vogel had ever seen. “You’re with that woman from earlier, right?”

“Who?” Vogel took the flower as it was handed to him, putting the weeds on the desk.

“The- nevermind.” The cashier shook her head. “Happy Valentines day.”

“What’s?” Vogel stared up at the woman with wide eyes. “What’s?”

“What’s-” 

The girl shook her head, laughter lighting up her eyes. It made Vogel laugh too, a sound that he happened to love. It was new and beautiful and so was this flower. She opened her mouth intent on finishing her sentence, silence hanging in the air for one brief moment before her head seemed to explode. The moment ended with a bitter cold sweeping over Vogel and it wasn’t Valentines Day anymore, it was just dark and he wasn’t anywhere near his family. He took a step back, wide eyes on the broken window behind the counter as the girl fell to the floor.

Vogel clutched the flower and stumbled toward the back of the store, turning in a circle and crawling into a space inside a display. Light filtered in, dust swirling in the few rays that got inside. He could see out.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-

The door opened in the front of the store and Vogel clutched the flower so hard the petals creased. Where was everyone? He needed them, he loved them.

One of the boxes of food lifted up from above him, exposing Vogel to the bad guys. They had to be them, right? Fear flooded Vogels veins as he looked up, but as his eyes focused away from the bright lights above, all he saw was a confused looking person.

“Hey?” They frowned, putting their gun down on one of the boxes. “You ain’t food.”

“No.” Vogel stood up and went on his toes to try and look the person in the eyes. It wasn’t Priest! He wasn’t scared! “Who’re you!?”

“Who are you?”

“Vogel.”

“Huh.” They stared for a moment before holding out one of the things in their hands, a little thing of red chocolates. “This is good. Want some?”

Vogel frowned, he hadn’t had the other kind of food… ever. Not that he could remember anyway. He took the little box in one hand and clutched the flower in the other, opening it up and biting one of the peices. It tasted like those little metal bits the bad guys used to put in Vogel’s mouth, making his eyes flash at the memory as he spit it out.

The stranger laughed.

“Gotta take that shiny stuff off first.”

“Really?”

“That’s what Mr. Priest told me.” The stranger took the box back and unwrapped a piece, holding it back out to him. Vogel was much more careful this time around, sniffing it before he took a nibble. It wasn’t horrible, but the taste was muted somehow.

“Who’s that?”

“He’s Mr. Priest. I miss him.” Now the stranger looked a bit sad, Vogel recognized the expression because Martin got it when he had a mirror. “You know him?”

“No.” Vogel shook his head. “Sorry.”

“Ah, that’s okay.” The stranger sighed. “Hey, I’m Bart.”

“Hi! Look my flower!” Vogel held up the flower, a prideful smile on his face. “It’s magic!”

“Really?” Bart leaned forward to get a closer look at it. “How?”

“Dunno,” Vogel hummed, twisting it around in his fingers. “Tells, ‘love you’, ‘f’ya give it. It’s Valent’s Day.”

“Awesome.” Bart stood straight and grinned down at him. They weren’t all grown up like his dads, but they weren’t and adult either. Vogel would have placed Bart as some middle stage; they had the height of a grownup but their face was still soft. “You should go. Cops are gonna find this place.”

“Cops,” Vogel repeated; he understood enough to realize it was time to leave. “Need presents.”

“For who?” Bart frowned, following Vogel as he raced to grab pretty looking items off of the shelves, along with one of those bottles his dads liked to drink.

“Vater und Vati und Papa,” Vogel said, excitement clouding his brain. He’d never been able to give gifts before, he was always on the receiving end! “They li- like, they-” The sentence wasn’t coming to his head right now. Stop, breathe, what was he trying to say? “My, um, my, my Väter, I love them. Give them presents.”

“Cool.” Bart’s grin softened a little. “Have fun with the magic flower.”

“Yes!” Vogel had reached the door, dumping the gifts into a bag. He waved at the stranger and tried not to think about the blood behind the counter as he hurried back down the forest trail.

“Vogel!” Someone was calling his name. Two people, three. “Vogel!”

“Vogel?”

“Vog- hey! Kid!” Vogel was scooped up into someone’s arms, pressed into Gripps’ chest as he leaned against a tree. “Dude dude, I found him!”

“You found him!”

“Thank god,” Martin said, pulling Cross over to where they were. He looked panicked, a strange expression. “Where’d you go?”

“Heard a shot.”

“Thought you got-”

“Magic flower.” Vogel held up the flower, wriggling out of Gripps’ arms and landing on the floor. “Keeps me safe!”

The others laughed, kneeling down to sit with him. They just smelled happy, relieved, Vogel loved when they smelled like that. He reached over and pressed the flower into Martin’s hand.

“I love you flower.”

“That’s what it means, huh?” Martin raised an eyebrow. “I love ya’ too, baby bird.”

“Bird!”

“I love you too, Vogel,” Amanda said softly, looking away from Martin to smile at Vogel. He was grinning back, giving a thumbs up. “You guys are stupid.”

“Yup.”

“Always.”

“Definitely.”

But they were hers, Amanda’s, and that was probably what counted in the end.


End file.
